Although there has been a slight decline in the sending volumes of Christmas cards, the card tradition is alive and well. Three consumers in four say that they will send traditional paper greeting cards this year. Receiving holiday season cards is almost always considered as a positive thing.

This year, Finns intend to send an average of 17 traditional Christmas cards, and one-third of Finns intend to send more than 20 cards. Only one consumer in seven do not intend to send any cards. This information is supplied by a recent survey commissioned by Itella, where Finns were invited to share their views on holiday greetings.

The traditional mindset is that holiday greetings are a task for women. Women do send clearly higher volumes of traditional holiday greetings than men, and they also appreciate receiving them to a slightly higher extent than men. The older the sender, the more season's greetings they send. For those over 45, the volumes are clearly higher than average. However, age has no impact on digital season's greetings: young people do not send holiday season text messages more frequently than older people.

Finns find traditional Christmas greetings a positive thing. Almost all recipients say that they are happy when they receive hand-written cards, but digital greetings do not give an equal amount of joy. Although older people are more frequent senders of cards, the majority do not find the card tradition itself out of date.

Personal approach highlighted

When selecting holiday season cards, the respondents say that the main thing is to find the right kind of picture. They also find it important to convey the message and atmosphere of Christmas, and a personal message. The most active senders put added value in their cards by making their own cards, sending their photos as cards, or by going for charity cards. The card recipients also appreciate these characteristics.

The recipients of season's greetings also say that they rejoice over the fact that the card was selected precisely for them. The survey also found that a particular cause for joy is to get season's greetings from someone the recipient has not seen in years.

The survey was implemented in GallupKanava on November 9–14. The survey was taken by 809 consumers, which is a representative sample of Finns at 17–69 years of age. Itella Research Manager Kari Elkelä is responsible for designing the survey and analyzing the results.

Almost all recipients say that they are happy when they receive hand-written cards, but digital greetings do not give an equal amount of joy.